


Caramel

by marcustyphoon



Series: Hallowtide [1]
Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 12:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16475855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marcustyphoon/pseuds/marcustyphoon
Summary: Taimi has a unique Halloween costume.Prequel to Sugarplums.





	Caramel

**Author's Note:**

> This is my 2015 Halloween fanfic! It's part 1 of an extended story, which I picked back up 3 years later(!) and will post just as soon as I finish it.
> 
> Though I'm writing original characters, if I've done my job right you shouldn't have to know anything beforehand to appreciate them. That being said:
> 
> Here are photos of the characters in question:  
> [Haneul (norn elementalist)](https://gossamer-scraps.tumblr.com/post/134620715063)  
> [Cassandra (asura engineer)](https://gossamer-scraps.tumblr.com/post/150985752618)
> 
> This story is set between Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire, and neither character is the "commander."
> 
> Enjoy, and please do leave any feedback you have!

“East wing, past the purple public terminal, second door on the left.” Haneul had been to her friend’s lab a handful of times before, but she was still unfamiliar enough with the angular and symmetrical Asuran architecture that sticking to landmarks was a good idea. Especially today, with halloween decorations on many of the normally distinctive indoor plants and having to constantly look out for traveling golems, hurrying Asura researchers and the occasional costumed progeny, it was easy to become disoriented. But within a few moments, she could see a familiar pair of ears - and, of course, the rest of a familiar figure - adjusting a trio of small pumpkins and a few decorative bundles of corn stalks next to the door to her lab.

“Hi Cassie!” She made her way over to the door, kneeling and reaching into her bag for a brown paper pouch. “Candied nuts, as requested. I asked for a variety - I think they had walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts, and maybe one more I don’t remember?”

“Thanks!” Cassie flashed a grin, picking a large bowl up for Haneul to pour the nuts into. She popped one into her mouth, chewing on it with a crunch, before setting the bowl next to the pumpkins and taping an index card to the side, “Happy Halloween” written in slightly curly script in orange marker. “Progeny’ll love these, I bet. And a couple of my coworkers, probably - I wouldn’t put it past them to dress up and trick-or-treat with the kids. And hey, I’m not gonna judge.” She stood up to admire her handiwork, though she still hardly came to Haneul’s shoulder with the Norn sitting on the floor. “There, all done.”

Her Halloween setup, compared to most of those Haneul had passed by on her way over, seemed a bit devoid of skeletons, spiders, ghosts, and witches, but it was charming somehow. “Looks great to me,” she said, standing up and closing her bag. It was only the middle of the afternoon, but a surprising number of candy bowls were already set out in front of laboratories and offices and seeing business. A group of progeny dressed as Destiny’s Edge wandered by, and a slightly out-of-place pair of human women shared a laugh. “Seems like Asura get an earlier start on the festivities than we did back in Hoelbrak,” Haneul commented, glancing at her watch.

“Probably a product of good old Professor Hamm’s continuously teaching the progeny ‘not to waste a minute pursuing their full potential’ back at Splorge.” Cassie stuck her tongue out good-naturedly. “They tend to take it seriously, evidently. Anyway, let’s get goi– WHOA!!”

**“EEEEEEK!”** One of the women, the shorter one with shoulder-length blond hair, leapt into the arms of the other. **“A PIRATE!”**

“Gah!” Instinctively, Haneul jumped backward, the air around her beginning to spark with electricity and collect in her hands as a holographic Aetherblade pirate rounded a corner and entered the hallway, gear-hammer-thingy drawn threateningly. Cassie had produced a wrench out of nowhere and was wielding it like a club. Haneul had to mentally check that it was indeed 1328, and that the victory at the Battle of Lion’s Arch was a memory and not something she’d dreamed up in a bout of wishful thinking.

“THE - AETHERBLADE - FORCE - COMMANDS - YOU - TO - SURRENDER - YOUR - CANDY - TO SCARLET - OR - FACE - CERTAIN - DEATH!” postulated the hologram, gesticulating wildly with its hammer for a few confusing moments before collapsing in a burst of sparks to reveal a tiny progeny with a bow in her hair and some kind of projector device covered in a mess of cables and mismatched equipment. “Gotcha! Trick or treat!” she said, bowing as the women both burst out laughing. Cassie and Haneul quickly followed suit.

“By the alchemy, Tai, you’re… you’re crazy! Is that a real holographic generator matrix? Where did you get that?” managed Cassie between laughs.

“Oh, y'know. I can’t confirm or deny that allegation at this time, trade secrets, competitive advantage, you know how these things are…” The progeny had her hands behind her back, whistling badly and trying and failing to look innocent. “Ooh, candied nuts!”

“Phew! Wow, that’s quite the costume,” said Haneul after a moment, dismissing her bundle of sparks into the atmosphere with a quick wrist motion. The two human women, she noticed, were still laughing uncontrollably. “Hold on, were you two in on this?”

“A decphent performanfe, Kas, but you could sftill be a bit more terrified,” said the progeny through a mouthful of nuts, pointing to the shorter human. It only made her laugh harder, giggling until she could hardly breathe.

“’m trying! Wha - ” she had to pause to gasp for breath. “What am I supposed to do, I’m already - hah - screaming as loud as I can!”

“And you damn well nearly knocked me over, too,” said the taller woman with a smile.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean –”

“It’s fine, Kas, don’t worry. I’ll catch ya.” The two shared a meaningful look.

“Ooh, yeah, leap into her arms or something, that’ll be perfect,” interjected the progeny. “We’ve really got to sell this one tonight if we’re gonna win the costume prize. And scare the breeches off the Arcane Council members, too, I hope.”

“Like I said: they take it seriously,” muttered Cassie in Haneul’s direction, putting a hand to her forehead overdramatically. “Knowing you’s a treat, Taimi.”

“Back at'cha! Which reminds me: could I maybe possibly borrow the key to the defense network code singularity? I’d like to make sure I don’t get shot by sentry golems when I boot this thing up in the middle of Rata Sum tonight…”

“Oh, for the love of moss…” Cassie unhooked a glowing blue crystal from a keyring on her belt and tossed it underhand to Taimi, who immediately dropped it and had to kneel to pick it back up. “Leave it in my flowerbed when you’re done, under the shiny rock as usual. And if you make any changes besides the eff-oh-eff database, I WILL delete your library account again, so don’t even THINK about it. Capiche?”

“Oookaaaayyyyy, fiiiiine,” said the progeny with an exaggerated pout. “It’s not like I need your stuffy old books anyway, since I’m not a nerd like youu~,” she finished with a smile.

“Yeah, it’s not like you’re personally responsible for 34% of the research papers checked out at this very moment, or anything like that,” retorted Cassie, drawing laughs all around. “Half of them overdue, come to think of it.”

“Hey! Ssh! That’s embarrassing!” Taimi’s ears drooped a fraction, and she looked a bit sheepish.

“You were asking for it.” Cassie patted Taimi on the head. “Just keep our _entire Tyria-wide waypoint network running_ , and I won’t charge you late fees, ‘kay? Seems only fair. Anyway, Haneul and I have to get going now!”

“Right, on it! See ya! And nice to meet you!” Haneul wasn’t at all familiar with Asura expressions, especially when the face in question was about the size of her palm, but she almost wondered if Taimi was hiding a blush.

“Same to you,” she replied, as she set off with Cassie toward the docks. “Have fun!”


End file.
